Spray cans are frequently and commonly employed to mark locations at construction, building, and other sites. The spray paint may, for example, be utilized to mark utility locations or locations where a specific type of task is to be performed. A worker often has to have a spray can at his or her ready disposal throughout the day. This can present difficulties since an individual is normally performing a number of tasks at the job site. If a spray can is simply hand carried it can easily be misplaced.
Some workers have followed the practice of securing a spray can in a conventional tool belt or apron. This approach is not satisfactory because a cap must normally be used on the spray can to prevent its accidental actuation. When one wishes to use the spray can, not only must the can be removed from wherever it is being held but the cap must be removed as well. This is inconvenient and time consuming. The prospective user may only have one hand free because he or she may be carrying out tasks with the other. Also, spray caps are commonly accidentally dislodged from the spray cans, especially when the users are physically active as is virtually always the case in construction and building projects. When the protective caps are no longer in position, accidental actuation of spray can valve elements can, and does, occur.
Applicant is aware of a number of prior art devices which are utilized to carry a variety of articles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,247, issued May 16, 1989, discloses a belt-suspended holster for a caulking gun. The lower end of the holster is provided with a nose plate for receiving the applicator tip of the caulking gun. Clasps in the form of resilient arms are fixedly secured to the rest of the holster to engage the cylindrical outer surface of the caulking gun to maintain it in position. Likewise, the nose plate of the holster is fixed in place relative to the rest of the holster by fasteners such as rivets.
With the arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,247, the caulking gun may be manually be put into place or removed from the holster from only one direction, that is, from the front of the holster. Furthermore, the nose piece, being an integral and immovable part of the holster, cannot be employed to protect the tip of the caulking gun upon removal of the caulking gun from the holster. The holster of U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,247 is relatively complex and expensive.
Other prior art of which applicant is aware are the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 1,605,195, issued Nov. 2, 1926, U.S. Pat. No. 3,637,120, issued Jan. 25, 1972, U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,611, issued Feb. 19, 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,518, issued Sep. 11, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 969,524, issued Sep. 6, 1910, and Austrian Patent Document No. 181793, dated Apr. 25, 1955. The arrangements shown in this prior art are of even less pertinence to the present invention then that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,247, discussed at length above.